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Description
Rio Cazarez, a relatively new character who I decided to give a fresh makeover. She's a top mech pilot for a PMC called Severa, which specializes in clearing monsters. One of these days I'll actually draw her robot. Maybe.

Rio is also deaf and doesn't speak, hence the ASL sketches. She's skilled in lip reading for those who don't know signing, and her helmet and mech give her visual systems that more than make up for her lack of hearing on the field, on top of just being naturally observant and visually aware. She takes a lot of inspiration from other deaf characters in animated fiction, including Amaya from Dragon Prince, Nicolas from Gangsta, and to a lesser extent Marci from Dota (though Marci isn't deaf; she just doesn't speak). Anyway, hopefully I portrayed her signing well--I've been looking into it a lot but I'm definitely not an expert.

Off the field, Rio carries a warm and friendly big sister type of personality, though not many get to see it as well as those who can fluently communicate with her. She doesn't directly converse much with her military peers at Severa outside of her tight-knit friends and commanding officer, though that doesn't mean she can't show off her fun social side non-verbally.

On the field however, Rio is a very different person. Often only taking orders from her direct commanding officer, she's hyper focused--a completely silent and efficient killer who's helmet and mech systems effectively give her eyes on the back of her head. People who aren't as familiar with her might not even realize that the friendly Rio they met off duty is the same soldier who operates as cold and robotically as the machine she pilots.

Description
Rio Cazarez, a relatively new character who I decided to give a fresh makeover. She's a top mech pilot for a PMC called Severa, which specializes in clearing monsters. One of these days I'll actually draw her robot. Maybe.

Rio is also deaf and doesn't speak, hence the ASL sketches. She's skilled in lip reading for those who don't know signing, and her helmet and mech give her visual systems that more than make up for her lack of hearing on the field, on top of just being naturally observant and visually aware. She takes a lot of inspiration from other deaf characters in animated fiction, including Amaya from Dragon Prince, Nicolas from Gangsta, and to a lesser extent Marci from Dota (though Marci isn't deaf; she just doesn't speak). Anyway, hopefully I portrayed her signing well--I've been looking into it a lot but I'm definitely not an expert.

Off the field, Rio carries a warm and friendly big sister type of personality, though not many get to see it as well as those who can fluently communicate with her. She doesn't directly converse much with her military peers at Severa outside of her tight-knit friends and commanding officer, though that doesn't mean she can't show off her fun social side non-verbally.

On the field however, Rio is a very different person. Often only taking orders from her direct commanding officer, she's hyper focused--a completely silent and efficient killer who's helmet and mech systems effectively give her eyes on the back of her head. People who aren't as familiar with her might not even realize that the friendly Rio they met off duty is the same soldier who operates as cold and robotically as the machine she pilots.